


Brace Yourself

by alexspacesout



Series: Brace Yourself- Klance AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Braces, Dancer AU, Dancer!Keith, First Meetings, Gym, Injury, M/M, aerialacrobat!lance, ankle brace, flustered keith, klance, knee brace, shared pain, smooth lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 16:18:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexspacesout/pseuds/alexspacesout
Summary: Keith's dream is to dance, but with the restriction of a knee brace he's not so sure it's possible. Then he meets a gorgeous aerial acrobat who shares in his pain and convinces him he's capable of anything.~More parts available~





	Brace Yourself

**Author's Note:**

> This is largely inspired by my own pain. I found out about 6 months ago that I was born with bad knees and due to my tendency to dislocate them, I'll have to wear knee braces on both of my legs for the rest of my life. I dream of dancing and being in musical theatre and after learning to adapt and cope I believe I can do it. This is kind of a self-indulgent fic to make me feel better about my circumstances too

Keith slumped against the wall, his bangs brushing against the tip of his nose. _I need a haircut._ He huffs the hair away, his hands busy massaging his left leg. His gaze rises slowly to the mirror opposite him.

A raggedy boy in tapered sweat pants and an off-the-shoulder band shirt thrifted from a dinky shop blinks back at him. He pauses his massaging to lift the strands of hair away from his eyes. He cocks his head to the right, watching the boy in the mirror do the same. _How did I get here?_ It felt like just yesterday that he was waltzing into the dance studio with a confident, cocky strut and red metal water bottle in hand being his only possession. Too bad those simple days are over. Keith blinks again at the boy in the mirror, then glances at the bulky black brace resting around his ankle.

In that moment, all he could think about was the future he could've had if that had not happened. Had he not fallen just right and knocked his knee cap out of place he would be totally normal. Just like every other dancer in the studio, here to feel their body move and express things that words can't. But it's hard to express his frustrations when a knee brace is severely limiting his mobility. 

Keith lets his hands fall to the floor, his knee gently throbbing in tandem with his aching heart.  _If only, if only, if only._

In truth it wasn't really Keith's fault. He had been born with weak knees in the first place. He just happened to find out  _after_ it mattered.  _After_ it could've been prevented. With one dislocation, it only gets easier and easier for his knee to get more and more messed up. He'd be lying if he said the fear of it happening again while dancing wasn't prominent. In fact, that's what made him pause his warmups at the odd twinge echoing deep in his bones. 

He still had another 20 minutes in the room before the next people would come in. However, the last place Keith wanted to be was in a room full of mirrors reflecting his pitiful, broken body back at him. Keith's head thuds against the wall as he brings his knees up to his chest. With trembling fingers, Keith pulls the monster brace from his ankle back up to wrap around his knee. The metal hinges squeeze tightly, easing into the grooves already etched in his skin. A squeak of protest slips out of the brace as Keith uses the bar to pull himself up to his feet. He quickly grabs his water bottle and gym bag and heads out of the room.

The gym outside is nearly packed with gym rats hitting the weights immediately after getting out of work. Keith uneasily shifts his bag and weaves through the machines, most of them occupied by either guys on steroids or girls taking Instagram pictures. His attention shifts momentarily to the TV, glimpsing the sirens on screen before he nearly crashes into someone.

"Hey bud, a little occupied?"

Keith keeps his eyes low, trying to hide his startled jump. "Um, yeah." He pushes past the young man quickly before he can say another word. 

Once through the locker room doors, Keith shoots straight to the back corner furthest from the showers. The last thing he wanted to see today was a naked man air drying while trying to make casual conversation. 

Thankfully his usual spot is empty, the only sign of occupancy being a stray shoelace hanging from an open locker. Keith plops his bag down on the bench in the middle of the aisle and swings his bad leg up beside it. He pauses to gulp down the last of the water from his bottle, then caps it tightly and unzips his bag. He fishes around for a bit before his hand finally finds the plastic bag containing his "medical kit". After all, nothing says health like a Walgreens bag.

Keith snaps the instant ice pack and sets it aside to start cooling as he eases his knee brace down his leg. His knee seems to be flaring up today, likely due to the cold flash. Like hell if he doesn't feel like an old man on days like these.

Just as Keith reaches for the ice pack, a locker suddenly slams behind him. What's his immediate reaction? To act like he's stretching. 

With Keith's off the shoulder shirt almost all the way off, his knee brace tossed to the side, and water bottle about to fall to the floor- well, he's a bit of a sight. Keith nearly thinks he gets away with his "stretching" until the metal bottle finally hits the floor with a loud clang. He hears footsteps patter up behind him and he  _prays_ that this old man at least has a towel on.

"How's it going over here?" _Thank goodness, it's not an old man. But what if it's one of those buff surfer-_

Keith's thoughts freeze when a hand suddenly lands on his shoulder. The hands are cold- ice cold.

A yelp escapes from Keith as he quickly pulls away and tries to yank the shirt up over his shoulder. In his excitement, Keith manages to tip over the side of the bench and land on the floor with a unceremonious bang on the lockers. Desperate to play it off, Keith lifts his hands in a mildly excited shrug. "Ta-da?"

The young man's laugh tinkles in the air, like little ice shards dancing through the shafts of sunlight. "Nice split." Keith looks down at his own legs, not even realizing his dancer reflexes had taken over. His lips form a small 'o' of surprise.  _Huh, guess I still have it._

Keith grumbles a 'thanks' as he attempts to hoist himself up with one hand on the bench and the other clinging to the ridges in the lockers. He gets nearly a foot off the ground before his knee makes a loud crack and Keith thuds back down. 

"Shit shit shit ow ow ow ow...." His fingers find purchase around his knee as he quickly pushes the cap back in. He's lucky it was only slightly shifted.

The young man comes around the bench with an intrigued urgency. No longer able to hide behind his hair, Keith gets his first glimpse of the man's face.

Did he say man's face? More like a God's face. The sunlight from the window illuminates a halo above his head, little droplets of water in his hair sparkling like the souls of a thousand puppies. His hair curls up around his ears, emphasizing their slightly oversized-ness. He has a strand of silver star earrings in each ear, the sparkle like light reflecting off of cool, gentle water. Just as Keith drifts to the man's eyes, his brain catches up with his ears.

"-swer me? Hello? Earth to cute-guy-who-can-do-a-split?" Keith blinks once, twice, three times before he realizes he's supposed to answer. 

"Oh, I, uh, I'm fine. My knee's just acting up a bit today, that's all." Keith has yet to admit the permanence of the knee brace to himself, let alone a stranger. 

"Let me help you up." Before Keith could protest, his butt was already on the bench again and his belongings returned to his hands. The man's hands almost rival the chill of the ice pack. It feels nice compared to the heat his body is radiating. Especially from the blush on his cheeks.

"Wow, okay, thank you." Keith places the ice pack on his knee, suddenly intent on staring at a spot on the floor beside his right foot. He waits for the sound of the man retreating, but instead he feels him take a seat beside him on the bench.

"So, are you a dancer?" The man seems totally at ease, as if the "slip-up" had never happened. Without hesitation, he begins to take his shirt off to change out of his workout clothes.

Keith breathes in through his nose, out through his mouth, the spot on the floor getting less and less interesting. "Yup. Guess you could say that."

The man chuckles. "You guess? You don't sound very sure. I mean, that split was pretty convincing." The man's shirt is off by now and Keith's eyes are beginning to drift.

"I'm not exactly at my peak anymore." Keith gestures to his knee, lifting the ice pack slightly to adjust it. 

"Oh my- wait there a second." The man is suddenly kneeling beside Keith, concern etched deep in his features. Keith is only able to absorb that for a second before he notices the muscles shifting under the golden tan of his back. "Why is your leg so red?  _And it's embedded in your leg?!_ " The man looks up at Keith in mild horror, not having seen the knee brace yet.

Keith coughs awkwardly, trying to shift his attention from looking to talking. "Oh, um, that's just my knee brace. Gotta keep this thing behaving." He gestures to his knee, his awkward laugh and shuffle met by a softening in the man's eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I get the pain." The man rolls up his yoga pant leg to reveal an ankle brace on his right foot. "I got tangled in the silk during one of my aerial acrobatics classes. It's never been the same."

Keith exhales shakily, then starts to laugh as tears come to his eyes. "I'm sorry, I just- I'm not the only one?"

Lance catches on to Keith's laughter and nods. "Where there's a will, there's a way. I've been trucking along for 2 years now. It sucks to not be able to do some tricks, but I've found a way around most of them. How long for you?"

"Seven months next week. I'm still struggling, to say the least." Keith tucks his ice pack away, the cold having leaked out of it long ago in the warmth of the shrinking locker room. The man grunts in acknowledgement.

"Not gonna lie, it doesn't really get easier. You just learn to accept a new reality. And hey, maybe you'll come up with some of your own cool dance moves. Hell, think of Forrest Gump teaching Elvis Presley that one dance move!" The tinkling laugh again. Keith watches steadily as the man rises. Keith can't help but frown slightly to see the smooth tan disappear with the addition of a shirt.

"The name's Lance, by the way."

"Keith." 

"I'll see you around again soon?"

"...yeah."

When Keith stands this time, his knees are wobbly for a different reason than usual.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Do you want to see a continuation of this? Not really as a multi-chapter fic but rather as a collection of oneshot-style updates. Please let me know what you think!
> 
> ~Part 2 of series available~
> 
> Look at my Keefy dancer! https://alexthinksout.tumblr.com/post/173875744275/dancing-keef-from-brace-yourself-klance-au


End file.
